Method of producing photograph album leaf of closed pocket construction

ABSTRACT

Photograph album leaf and method of making same. Leaf is sheet with heat sealable outer surface folded to form pages back-toback, spaced photoprint window pockets being peripherally sealed thereon. Slots underlying pockets provide access for inserting prints through reverse side of sheet between pages. Method includes steps of die cutting slots in flat sheet, overlaying transparent heat sealable sheet (preferably preprinted with decorative borders defining window pocket frames); sealing the pocket margins and simultaneously forming peripheral tear lines; peeling off overlay material around pockets; folding the sheet and forming a binding strip along marginal portions at the free end edges of the sheet.

V I Ulllted States Patent 51 3,642,552 Sibley Feb. 15, 1972 [54] METHOD OF PRODUCING Ref renc s Cited PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM LEAF OF UNITED STATES PATENTS CLOSED POCKET CONSTRUCTION 2,871,153 1/1959 Copen ..40/l59 X Inventor: William J. Sibley, South Hadley, Mass. 3,336,845 8/ 1967 Lepisto et al. ....156/ 108 X [73] Assignee: National Blank Book Company, Inc 3,532,412 10/1970 Miller ..156/108 X Mass" Primary Examiner-Carl D. Quarforth [22] Filed: June 24, 1970 Assistant ExaminerP. A. Nelson Attorney-Chapin, Neal and Dempsey [2]] Appl. No.: 59,832

ABSTRACT Related US. Application Data Photograph album leaf and method of making same. Leaf is sheet with heat sealable outer surface folded to form pages DlVlSlOl'l Of S61. NO. 13, Pat. NO. b spaced photoprint window pockets being 3,587,187- peripherally sealed thereon. Slots underlying pockets provide access for inserting prints through reverse side of sheet U-S- between pages Method includes steps of die cutting slots in 155/226, 156/247, flat sheet, overlaying transparent heat sealable sheet l56/267 (preferably preprinted with decorative borders defining win- [51] Int. Cl ..E06b 3/30 dow pocket frames); sealing the pocket margins and simul- [58] Field of Search ..156/63, 70, 84, 99, 101, 102, taneously forming peripheral tear lines; peeling ofi overlay 156/ 108, 109, 216, 217, 247, 248, 253,257, 268, material around pockets; folding the sheet and forming a bind- 222, 224, 226, 227 ing strip along marginal portions at the free end edges of the sheet.

3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB 15 I972 642,552

sum 2 or 2 2 IN TOR.

-. WILL/AM J. 5/ EY IE1 551. 44 4;. n $22 6 METHOD OF PRODUCING PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM LEAF OF CLOSED POCKET CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND This is a division of application Ser. No. 783,672 filed Dec. 13, 1968, allowed June 15, 1970, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,187.

This invention relates to an improved photograph album leaf for the dry mounting of photoprints and method of making such leaves especially for loose leaf binder or bound book use. In particular the invention is related to a simplified method of fonning spaced peripherally enclosed photoprint display compartments or window pockets on a single or laminated sheet having entrance slots to such pockets and being folded for a back to back page relationship and access to said slots between unattached edges of the pages.

The art of photograph album leaf constructions is extremely crowded and varied. One general type of leaf commonly offered to the public and available in many specific forms is characterized by the formation of viewing compartments or pockets for containing photoprints and displaying the same in a covered or an uncovered condition. In this type of album leaf, laminated assemblies of a somewhat special nature from the standpoint of manufacture and mounting use are exemplified by such prior US. Pat. Nos. as 2,505,506, and 2,963,809, the leaf disclosed in the latter patent being commercially available as a sandwich type of back to back mat assembly for a framed mounting of prints. In one of the simplest types of commercially available photoprint pocket album leaves is a transparent sheet of flexible thermoplastic material provided with pockets formed by strips of the same transparent material sealed together along three marginal lines defining the pockets, the fourth sides being unattached for inserting in each pocket a single print or, if desired, a pair of prints back to back for utilizing both sides of the sheet for viewing prints. While least costly and serviceable the similar type of unit lacks the attractiveness of the sandwich or laminated units for displaying prints in a decorative manner. The present invention has for an object to provide a new method using relatively inexpensive sheet materials for making a pocket type of album leaf having specific advantages over prior constructions and which in a preferred form has an attractive and rich-looking appearance characteristic of extremely high quality merchandise.

Among other objects of the invention are to provide a closed pocket construction serving to encase a print in a substantially completely sealed and dustproof enclosure, and to provide, in the preferred form, an inexpensive decorative marginal border as a frame for each print and to enhance the attractiveness of the album pages concealing the entrance slots to the pockets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In practicing the present invention a single sheet of flexible material having an outer surface of heat sealable material is first die cut to provide slots at predetermined spaced locations and being placed on the surface of a heat-sealing die platen is covered by an overlay sheet of thin transparent plastic material preferably having a set of preprinted decorative framing borders defining photoprint pockets arranged in a desired pattern for each half of the sheet (either uniformly on each half or otherwise for a back to back book-page relation of the sheet when folded). A sealing die having peripheral pocket sealing units is then lowered to press the two plies together along marginal edge portions all around the pocket compartment sections. Each slot in the first sheet is positioned within an area enclosed by the edges of a sealing unit. The marginal sealing lines are preferably at the outer edges of the printed decorative border and the die is formed with an outer knife blade like edge which crimps or scores the extreme edge to create a tear line surrounding the sealed portions. The sealing may be accomplished in a conventional manner as by the application of a high-frequency current. After sealing, the excess transparent overlay sheet material surrounding the now sealed pocket compartments may be removed by peeling away from the first sheet and stripped off along the weakened tear lines. The sheet is then folded along a central crease line, and the free end edges brought together to form an inner marginal binding portion in any suitable manner as by heat-sealing and punching holes for mounting on a loose leaf ring or post binder.

In a preferred form of the album leaf the slots in the folded sheet are located along one of the sides of the pockets behind the decorative printed borders so as to be hidden from view. Furthermore, for most convenient access to the pockets between the folded pages the entrance slot of each pocket is at that side margin nearest the free edges of the sheet.

FIG. I is a plan view ofone side of an album leaf embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on greatly enlarged scale of one of the photo-print compartment pockets as on line 3-3 of FIG. 1 and showing a print being mounted therein:

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the rear side of one of the folded pages of the album leaf as on line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary rear face view of a single pocket with an alternative entrance slot construction;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the sealing die members and sheet combined to form the plurality of compartment pockets on an album sheet, such as shown by FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the step of removing excess material from around sealed pockets of the leaf;

FIG. 8 is a section on line 8-8 ofFIG. 6 showing details ofa pocket sealing die member; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the sealing operation of the free ends, folded as in FIG. 2.

The photo album leaf 10 (FIG. 1) comprises a single flexible sheet folded on itself to form back to back pages, a front page at 10a and a back page at 10b (FIG. 2) being joined at a central fold line 12 of leaf l0 and having the free end portions thereof brought together and sealed at a marginal binding portion generally indicated at 14, as will later be more specifically described.

On the outer surface of each page are attached a series of spaced photo-print compartments or pockets 16, page 10b being a mirror image of page 10a. Each pocket has a printed decorative border 18 to impart a framed" appearance. The width of the border 18 is slightly greater than the conventional marginal edge of the usual photoprint so as to conceal this edge from view when the print is mounted in a pocket. The pocket 16 is formed of transparent sheet material, the printed border framing the clear window section 20.

Each compartment pocket 16 is completely sealed around the peripheral edges thereof. Access to the pockets is from the reverse side of each page through entrance slots cut through the page. Preferably the severed portions forming entrance slots as at 22 are positioned (FIGS. 3 and 4) in underlying relation along one of the printed border sections of each pocket. Thus each entrance is hidden from view when the pocket is empty. As noted from FIG. 4, a preferred form of entrance slot is provided by a linear cut having the ends thereof curled inwardly in'a circular path as at 24. This permits the inner lip or edge 22' of slot 22 to be easily turned outwardly to initially insert the edge of a photo-print into the pocket and then slide it into place as will be apparent from FIG. 3. The edge 22 after insertion of the print will normally spring back into place so that the print is mounted in a substantially dustfree and completely enclosed compartment. It may be further noted that the entrance slots 22 are positioned along the out side borders of the pockets adjacent the upper and lower unattached edges of the pages as in FIG. 4. Thus access to these slots for inserting or removing photoprints is readily obtained by spreading the free edge of either page apart sufficiently to tuck the edge of a print into a slot entrance.

greatly enlarged scale on line While the entrance slots are located and cut as described in the preferred form of album leaf so as to conceal the slots from view and provide a substantially complete enclosure, it will be appreciated that other forms and shapes of openings for the pockets may be used to impart various visual effects in the appearance of the empty pockets. One example of a modified arrangement is seen from FIG. 5 where a relatively wide central slot is provided at the back of the pocket. Here one side of a photoprint may be tucked into one side of the pocket as at 26, the print flexed, and the edge of the other half of the prints snapped into the opposite side at 27. Other slot formations will be obvious and may be utilized to provide individual arrangements for creating a desired visual effect through the window areas of the empty pockets.

The album sheet 10 as shown comprises a single sheet of flexible material with a heat sealable outer face. This may be of laminated form as shown by FIG. 2, a backing ply 101 or base of thin paper stock such as kraft paper having an outer thin covering ply 102 of vinyl or other suitable plastic material bonded thereto. Such sheet constructions are inexpensive in nature and provided on the outer surface thereof with any number of decorative designs and colorings, the vinyl surface being heat sealable, Alternatively sheet material of single or double ply vinyl may be used as well as paper stock coated with vinyl plastic. The overlying material of the pockets 16 is likewise of suitable heat sealable sheet material such as transparent vinyl plastic. In order to impart an embossed effect to the borders 18 the latter is preferably printed against the underside of the material, the pressure of the printing die accomplishing this result which as will be appreciated has been exaggerated in the showing of FIGS. 2 and 3. At the extreme peripheral edges of the printed borders the overlay material is heat sealed by welding to the underlying plastic surface along outer marginal lines as at 28.

In forming the binding margin at 14, the outer surfaces of the free end edges of the folded sheet are brought together and joined by heat sealing. This may be done in any desirable manner consistent with the type of binding for which the album leaf is designed. As indicated by FIG. 2 the free end edge portions are joined by creasing an extension of page 10b along an end fold line at 30 and then reversely turning the terminal portion 32 thereof to overlie the terminal end portion 34 of the page 100. The heat sealable surfaces of portions 32 and 34 are thus face to face and by a suitable welding die these surfaces can be pressed together and sealed as indicated at 36. By mating the free ends in this manner and tucking the extreme end edges of the sheets against the inside of the fold at 30 the portions 32 and 34 may be used to receive and hold a wire pin (not shown) confined in the fold area at 38. The sheet .may thus be hinged in a binder cover assembly of known type in which projecting ends of the wire are suitably anchored at the ends of a back panel of the covers. Alternatively, as illustrated by FIG. 1 the binding margin may be punched for assembly in a three ring binder. Other binding arrangements will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

According to the method of making the album sheet of FIGS. 1-4, a bed plate 40 (FIG. 6) or similar surface is used and the material for making the album sheet and pockets is laid in superimposed relation on the plate for the pocket bonding assembly operation. The plate 40 is one face of an electronic heat sealing tool and may be provided with a plurality of rectangular strips 42 positioned in spaced relation on the plate in accordance with the planned pocket arrangement for the album leaf. The strips are preferably embedded in the face of the plate and provide anvil or seating portions to form the welded marginal edges of the compartment pockets 16. It may be noted that the width of the marginal area at 41 at one end of the plate and the corresponding ends of the sheets to be placed thereon is greater than the marginal width at the opposite end. The marginal extension of the sheet on the portion 41 is to provide for the additional folding at that end in order to make up the marginal binding strip portion 14 as shown in FIG. 2.

At each corner of plate 40 pins 44 may be provided to receive perforations in the superimposed sheets for registering the latter on plate 40. As seen from FIG. 6, a flat sheet 10' forming the base sheet of the album leaf is provided with pin registration holes 46 at each corner thereof. In this sheet the entrance slots 22 are precut as has been previously described (FIGS. 3 and 4). Most conveniently the slots may be die cut by suitable apparatus and in this connection the registration holes 46 may be used for accurately and precisely positioning sheet 10 for such die cutting operation or the holes may be punched simultaneously with the slots.

Overlying base sheet 10 and covering it in registered position on plate 40 is a transparent sheet 16 of suitable heat sealable material such as vinyl plastic. Sheet 16 is preferably preprinted with the decorative framing borders l8 defining the compartment pockets l6. Corner registration holes 48 of sheet 16 may be provided for a properly located positioning of the framing borders of the sheet relative to the strips 42 of the plate and the slots 22 of sheet 10'. Holes 48 may serve for registration purposes in the printing step or punched at the time of the printing operation. It will be realized that other suitable registration means may be used for accurately positioning the sheets.

With sheets 10' and 16' superimposed on bed plate 40, an upper pocket bonding die plate 50 having a series of rectangular heat sealing die members 52 may be brought down and applied to press against and bond the marginal edges of the pocket portions 16 to the surface of sheet 10 in the area of the strips 42 of the bed plate. The material of the transparent sheet 16 and the surface of the sheet 10 being thermoplastic and heat sealable as above described, the pockets 16 are suitably electronically heat sealed around their peripheral marginal edge portions. The strips 42 of plate 40 and pocket forming dies 52 are made electrodes of the sealing apparatus. When a high-frequency current is supplied to the electrodes the heat is concentrated at the pressed interfaces of the thermoplastic material causing the material to soften and intermingle and produce an integral weld as strong as the material itself.

As best shown in the greatly enlarged sectional view of FIG. 8 the raised edges of the rectangular pocket die members are also preferably formed with an outer knife edge as at 54. In the heating process this edge creates an outer severance line or tear line in the sheet 16 immediately outside the linear seal surrounding each pocket and formed by the flat surface at 56. In an actual embodiment of the sealing die the surface 56 has a width of one thirty-second of an inch and the knife edge projects about five thousandths of an inch above surface 56. With a thin ply of transparent sheet material the edge 54 is sufficient to cause a scoring and enable the excess material around the pockets to be manually peeled off as indicated by FIG. 7 when the sheet assembly is removed from the sealing die.

After stripping the excess loose sheet material of transparent sheet 16 away from sheet 10', the pockets remain as seen in FIGS. 14. The ends of the sheet may then be trimmed, the sheet folded centrally along the fold line 12 (FIG. 2) and the free ends brought together as described in connection with FIG. 2. In FIG. 9 the final step of sealing the'free ends to form the binding margin is diagrammatically illustrated with upper and lower heat sealing die members indicated at 60 and 62 pressing the folded areas together for the application of heat to form the welded area at 36. Since the base sheet in the embodiment shown is provided with a kraft paper backing the portions 32 and 34 will be left free to form a tucked flap construction as illustrated and described in connection with FIG.

mounting photoportions thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of pre-printing said covering transparent sheet with a series of framed sections having decorative borders and sealing the sheets together along the outer edges of said borders.

3. The method of claim 2 in which marginal sections of the decorative borders are printed for registration in overlying relation to said slots. 

1. Method of forming an album leaf for dry mounting photo-prints comprising the steps of: cutting a series of slots in spaced relation in a first sheet of flexible material having a heat sealable surface, covering the sealable surface of the first sheet with a sheet of transparent heat sealable material, forming peripherally enclosed photoprint viewing compartments by heat sealing the sheets together along marginal portions lying outside each of said slots and defining said compartments and at the outer edges of said sealed portions forming weakened tear lines in said transparent sheet, peeling the transparent sheet material around said compartments away from said first sheet along said tear lines, folding said sheet, and joining the marginal free end edge portions thereof.
 2. The method of claim 1 including the step of pre-printing said covering transparent sheet with a series of framed sections having decorative borders and sealing the sheets together along the outer edges of said borders.
 3. The method of claim 2 in which marginal sections of the decorative borders are printed for registration in overlying relation to said slots. 